Late? Get a chit from SMRT

Commuters who get delayed as a result of train disruptions can ask for excuse slips to present to their bosses or teachers to explain their lateness.

These official slips - or excuse chits, as they are called - can be obtained at customer-service counters at any MRT station operated by SMRT, the transport operator said. They come complete with the date and time of a disruption, as well as a station stamp and staff signature.

An SMRT spokesman told my paper yesterday: "We provide an excuse chit to passengers who request one from our station staff, as official proof that they were delayed because of a service disruption."

Commuters who require one can also write in to SMRT Customer Relations at corpcomms@smrt.com.sg or call the transport operator's hotline on 1800-3368-900.

SMRT said it introduced the excuse chit in the early 2000s.

While the transport operator was unable to provide the total number of chits given out since, it said that fewer than 100 have been issued for disruptions over the past two weeks.

Stomp contributor Mansoor, 42, said he was stranded at Buona Vista Station yesterday morning, due to the disruption on the Circle Line.

He had been heading to one-north Station, just one stop away. The assistant merchandising manager approached staff at station control, who told him they could issue him a chit.

He finally made it to work by bus, arriving over half an hour late. He later posted a photograph of the chit on citizen-journalism website Stomp.

Mansoor said: "In the end, my boss was late too, so he accepted my lateness."